BANGKOK, Oct. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Thailand and Malaysia have agreed to cooperate on bird flu control, facilitate goods transportation and carry out the Kolok river bridge project, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

    In an agreement reached on Wednesday by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his visiting Malaysian counterpart AbdullahAhmad Badawi in Phuket, the two countries pledged to swiftly exchange information on bird flu to prevent it from spreading.

    A mechanism between the two countries?health ministries will be set up to raise efficiency in combating the epidemic, The Nation newspaper reported.

    The two leaders also gave permission to the free-flow of perishable goods in unlimited quantities from Thailand to Singapore via Malaysia.

    Thaksin and Abdullah on Thursday will preside over a ceremony marking the start of construction of the Thai-Malaysian bridge across the Kolok river.

    To help solve problems in Thailand´s three southernmost provinces, Malaysia planned to send representatives to the troubled region to meet local Muslim residents and discuss their role in the region´s economic development.

    "We have responded to a request from Thailand to send some of our people to talk to Muslims in the three provinces, especially the role of Islamic development," Abdullah was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

    The Thai government believes that militants in the south distort Islam in order to incite fellow Muslims to rise up againstthe state. It asked Malaysia to send prominent Islamic scholars toshare Muslim teachings in the deep South to propagate a "correct" understanding of Islam.

    Thaksin and Abdullah met Wednesday in the kingdom´s southern tourist resort of Phuket for their second annual consultation. They discussed border development issues under the Joint Development Strategy (JDS) framework, which was signed in August to boost border economy and eradicate poverty.